Rome appeals to Washington in a bid to avoid 107 per cent pasta tariffs.
Italian pasta exports to the United States face a challenging new trade landscape amid plans by the US to impose an extra duty of more than 91 per cent on pasta products.
If implemented, the additional “anti-dumping” duty of 91.74 per cent would be applied on top of the existing 15 per cent general tariff on European agri-food imports, bringing the tariffs on Italian pasta to 107 per cent.
The 15 per cent tariff on pasta came into effect on 1 August while the planned new 91 per cent tariff on pasta would take effect from January 2026.
The move to introduce the extra tariffs was motivated by “dumping” accusations after an investigation by the US department of commerce found that two major Italian producers, La Molisana and Garofalo, were allegedly selling pasta at below market value between July 2023 and June 2024.
The proposed new tariff has been criticised by the Italian agriculture minister Francesco Lollobrigida who said it “would trigger a hyper-protectionist mechanism against our pasta producers, for which we see neither the need nor any justification”.
“The Government and our diplomats are in constant contact with US government offices to address this and other dossiers—wine, Pecorino Romano, extra virgin olive oil—that are essential to ensuring flourishing and increasingly profitable trade relations”, Lollobrigida said in a statement.
The US is one of Italy’s top export markets for pasta, with nearly €671 million in exports in 2024, according to agricultural group Coldiretti, which claimed the extra tariffs would deal a “mortal blow” to the Italian pasta sector.
Coldiretti said it considers the dumping accusations “unacceptable and exploitative, linked to Trump’s plan to move production to the US”, claiming the new tariffs would have “devastating consequences for Made in Italy”.
The 107 per cent tariff “would double the cost of a plate of pasta for American families, paving the way for “Italian-sounding” products and severely impacting Italian companies in the sector”, Coldiretti said in a statement.
